A very symptomatic story today.
Some passengers have complained that low cost airlines were publishing misleading prices on their ads. One recent example : “fares at 3 THB for the third anniversary of Nok Air”.
We had exactly the same problem in Europe, where budget airlines like EasyJet were giving ridiculous prices. Now a regulation states that the prices must be “all inclusive”. Fair enough. Problem solved.
However in front of this issue, the thai authorities once again managed to find an orwellian (or kafkaesque, depending on your litterature tastes) solution…
“All economy airlines will be required to submit promotional campaigns and marketing plans to the department for consideration. If the promotions are misleading or otherwise affect passengers and competitiveness in the aviation industry, the department will not approve the plans.”
Can you imagine a new department, somewhere in a ministry, with civil servants spending hours to analyze… ads ? And what about the strange “affect competitiveness in the aviation industry“…
Aren’t all budget airlines supposed to affect the competitiveness of the industry ?Who will decide ? What will be the criterias ? Is there an hidden agenda, to protect some interests ?
Again, a perfect thai folie.
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